Air Force Academy – “They didn’t get it, they didn’t get it,” linebacker Drew Fowler said, emphasizing a key play in Air Force’s 24-7 win Saturday over New Mexico.

“We had our goal-line defense in,” Fowler said. “We figured he was going to sneak. We just plugged the gaps.”

Fowler’s focus was on a play late in the third quarter when New Mexico quarterback Chris Nelson tried the right side on fourth-and-1 at the Air Force 41-yard line. Fowler and freshman defensive end Ryan Gonzales were credited with keeping Nelson short of a first down.

New Mexico coach Rocky Long called for the play to be reviewed, but the call on the field stood.

“Obviously we thought we made the fourth-down play,” Long said. “We thought it was a bad spot, but you don’t win games if you can’t make fourth-and-1. So it wasn’t even close.”

Air Force strong safety John Rabold explained how the defense made the key play while protecting a 14-7 lead.

“We took down the tight end and the tackle,” Rabold said. “There was no question we stopped them. I didn’t have a second thought about the review. Our defense isn’t shying away from pressure as we did last year; we’re stepping up when we need to. If we keep up the all-around play – offense, defense, special teams – we’re going to win a lot of games.”

The sequence that followed the fourth-down stop allowed the Falcons to relax. They scored 10 points in 54 seconds early in the fourth quarter to secure the win.

Roberta Stokes, a representative from the Orange Bowl, attended the game, but not to scout either team. She said the Orange Bowl committee is visiting game sites to develop communication with as many schools as possible.

Carney didn’t waste the opportunity, saying, “Maybe we’ll have a shot later in the year. You never know.”

Next up

Air Force’s attention turns to the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy with Navy coming to Falcon Stadium next weekend.

“We needed to come in here and win a game for our home crowd,” DeBerry said of Air Force’s home opener. “There was a lot of spirit today. It’s not going to be hard to turn our attention to Navy. We kept the trophy here for such a long time, but Navy believes it belongs to them.”

Injury update

Air Force lost three players in the game. Defensive end Jake Paulson left with an apparent arm injury, guard Tyler Dohallow with an apparent knee injury and fullback Jacobe Kendrick with a shoulder injury. There were no postgame updates.

Four assistant basketball coaches at Division I schools and a top Adidas executive were among 10 people charged Tuesday with crimes including bribery and fraud as part of a wide-ranging federal investigation into corruption in college basketball.

CenturyLink, the telecommunications company that ended its sponsorship agreement with Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall because of his protests during the national anthem last year, said it will not terminate its agreement with current client Emmanuel Sanders.